ScrapbooK
by cloudy eve
Summary: 2: Heat-Haze Days, PikoMiki - In which Miki is hit by a truck, sent into a coma and Piko has to help her return to her body. Add his sister, an occult maniac and a grim reaper into the mix. Part 1 of 2, very loosely based off Kagerou Days.
1. 1: Afternight Wonderland

_A/N: Yes, it's another Vocaloid one-shot series. Pairings will vary depending on chapters. Some will be short, some will be long… this one was supposed to be a lot shorter, actually. And the song that inspired me to write this, 'Afternight Wonderland', is awesome. Please listen to it if you haven't yet._

.

.

.

_**S**_crapboo_**K  
><strong>_1: Afternight Wonderland  
>Pairing: Kaito x Miku<br>_In which Miku drags Kaito to an amusement park—in the middle of the night, that is._

.

.

.

It happened when he was sixteen and Miku was fourteen and far more mischievous than a fourteen-year-old should be. And here he thought that all girls her age should be giggly and obsessing over fashion and boys, or at least starting to. Oh, how he was proven wrong.

In the middle of the night, she had thrown some rubber balls onto his bedroom window, knowing that both of his parents were heavy sleepers. He groggily slipped out of his warm bed to the window and opened it, only to receive a rubber ball to his face. Needless to say, Kaito wasn't amused. But thanks to the stupid rubber ball, he was pretty much awake and he took in his neighbor Miku, clad in a long-sleeved shirt, shorts, thigh-highs and sneakers, a bag slung over her left shoulder with her hands on her hips and teal eyes, bright under the light of the lamppost, boring into his blue eyes.

"Kaito, come here!" She hissed. He had to strain his ears to hear her, and with his muddled, half-asleep brain, he dumbly told her to repeat. Another rubber ball hit his face, this time not on accident.

"Why? I want to sleep, Miku." He had every right to complain. It was—Kaito glanced at his clock—almost one in the morning, so it was Saturday and he wanted to sleep until noon. But with Miku as a neighbor, that seemed rather impossible.

"I need you. Now."

"Why?" His voice sounded more like a whine now. The girl far, far below him raised a fist, yet another rubber ball—how many did she have anyway?—clutched in her hand. Grumbling, Kaito turned to close his window and change into a shirt and a pair of jeans, not forgetting his overly long blue scarf, slipping his shoes on as he ran down the stairs.

The night air was cold. A shiver ran up his spine but he didn't want to shiver for fear of Miku thinking that he was scared. Now that he thought about it, maybe he should be scared. After all, he was dealing with Hatsune Miku, the troublesome girl with equally troublesome long teal hair put into pigtails. Why was her hair troublesome? Because it wasn't just once that those hellish pigtails slapped his face. She usually blamed the wind, but really, it was usually her fault for turning her head so fast her hair flew, and hurt anyone on the vicinity of her long hair.

Just as he relocked his house's door, he was already commanded. "Let's go now, before the sun rises."

"To where? It's one in the morning, and unless you're going to some shady club or a convenience store, there's nowhere interesting to go."

"Bakaito." The insult had been used so often now it was more like a degrading nickname than an insult. "We're not going to either. You're so boring." He swore there was a glint in her eyes. Glints in Hatsune Miku's eyes were never a good thing, and never will be. "But we'll have fun. Don't worry about it."

The streets she took were all foreign to him. He had never set foot in any of the city's areas that the tealette was leading him to, but the girl in front of him with her swaying pigtails seemed to know where she was going. That was an upside (there should never be an upside but there still _was_) of Miku's mischievous plans—she always knew what, exactly, she was doing. It wasn't supposed to be comforting, but Kaito felt relieved anyway.

Miku only stopped when she reached rows of painted iron bars obviously meant as a fence. They were tall, much taller than him. Kaito looked up and found looped barbed wire near the top of the fence. "You're not telling me to climb over this, right?"

"Well, no." She started walking, and paused, only looking back once. "Unless you want to. It's up to you, really."

He raced after her.

Miku stopped again, this time for real, in front of the entrance gate. It was locked but she didn't react, and with a bored expression, dug into her bag and brought out some kind of thin and long piece of metal. The tealette never failed to fascinate him, Kaito realized. She was just too full of surprises. He watched as she expertly inserted the metal into the lock, and it was then that he realized it was a lock picker.

_No wonder she nicknamed me Bakaito_, he thought dryly. Of course Miku would have a lock picker. And he'd even wondered how she could enter his room when he always locked it the moment before he went to sleep. He thought his mother helped her, but no, she picked the lock. Like a _thief_.

Deep in his thoughts of _oh, what could Miku have stolen from my room_, he was brought back to reality with the slight noise of the lock waved in front of his face and a satisfied smile. "Done. Now we shall proceed, my partner-in-crime."

"Since when did I become your partner-in-crime?"

"Since forever." Was the reply, not missing a beat.

She pulled the gate open, gracefully mock-bowed and flashed him a smile. "Gentlemen first."

"…Miku, I'm not too sure about this."

"What?"

"Isn't this illegal? Breaking into an…" Kaito glimpsed into the gate and tried to identify the dark silhouettes. "…amusement park?"

"Be glad it's not a bank."

Yeah, maybe he should be glad that she wasn't trying to raid a bank.

"We could come back when it's day." Reasoning with her was futile, but there was no harm in trying, right?

"No. I want to go now. And you're coming with me, you _chicken_." Uh-oh, the childish-and-stubborn mode was activated. She stomped her foot on the ground with a scowl (other girls pouted, Miku scowled) and grabbed his scarf (he choked, and man, did it hurt) before turning around (oh, the abuse of her hair) and dragging him into the gate. So much for _gentlemen first_.

Miku stomped off, deep into the amusement park, 'Wonder Land'. Kaito had never been there before (his parents were too busy to take him, and he heard that it was one of the hottest dating spots—most of the girls in his class had at least one date there) and he definitely never imagined that his first visit to 'Wonder Land' would be in the middle of the night, with Miku, and possibly illegally. Scratch 'possibly'—he was positive that it was illegal.

But the surprisingly strong girl pulling his scarf didn't seem to care at all that she was performing an act of crime. If anything, she was determined.

"Miku… where are we going?"

"You know that this is 'Wonder Land', right?"

"Of course." He still rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see him.

"Well, then that's good." Obviously she wasn't about to disclose anything else, so Kaito kept quiet and matched his pace with his 'partner-in-crime'. Soon enough they were walking side by side, almost like a couple, and her hold on his scarf didn't feel as suffocating as he loosed it.

_Wait, what am I thinking?_

His face felt warmer and his fingers twitched.

"Hm? Kaito, what's wrong with your hand…?" Miku innocently grasped it with her own smaller hands, raising it close to her lips. For a fleeting moment the blue-haired boy thought she was going to kiss it.

Then she opened her mouth.

Kaito pulled his hand back in horror. "Miku…!"

"Aw…" complained the tealette. She made a cute frown before pinching his thumb. Kaito yowled in pain; in turn, Miku kicked his shin, _hard_.

_Just how abusive is she? _Now his thumb throbbed and it was red, and his shin was still in pain too.

And then he felt dainty fingers wrap around his hand gently. Now Kaito was sure that his fingers weren't the only thing red.

Yeah, Miku was definitely weird.

"It's here." She tugged on his fingers lightly, eyes focusing on a small light in the distance. "Kaito, it's here!"

"What's here—ow!" It was as if there was an explosion of light. White filled his vision, and he shut his eyes. After being in the darkness for so long, light seemed to do more harm than good to him. "Miku, I hope this isn't going to make me blind…"

"Silly." He could hear the frown in her voice. "Of course it won't. Now open your eyes."

Wasn't it usually the guy who told the girl to open her eyes, not the other way around?

But he did anyway. Gingerly his blue eyes formed slits, trying to get used to the brightness.

And he was amazed. The amusement park was lit again, in shades of warm golden and pale yellow. Then someone popped out, seemingly out of nowhere. It was a girl who looked a little younger than Miku, her long rosy hair put in a low ponytail. A headband with red cat ears sat on her head. She was clad in a red overall, and she looked troubled.

"Ah, was it you two who broke the lock?" She rubbed her temples, lips pursed. Kaito was about to say 'she did it' and point at Miku but the girl shook her head. "But I guess it can't be helped. You two are guests after all." As if there was a switch somewhere in her, the pink-haired girl beamed and brought out an advertisement paper. "Welcome to 'Afternight Wonderland'!"

Miku took the paper, smiled gratefully, and showed it to him. In classy cursive was written 'Afternight Wonderland' on the top of the paper. The advertisement too, was themed with soft yellow and darker oranges, shadowy and mystical.

"I thought it was 'Wonder Land' with a space in between…?"

"Well, during daytime it is. But on special nights like this the 'Afternight Wonderland' will entertain anyone who happened to pass by… though you seem like you came here on purpose." The girl's golden gaze, oddly cat-like, scrutinized them. Kaito felt guilty, really. But Miku didn't seem to share the same feelings.

"We did. I dug around for a bit and found out about tonight. It's fine, isn't it?" The tealette's voice contained so much excitement it was almost palpable. She was suppressing a growing smile, the twinkle in her eyes another evidence of her anticipation.

_Miku really is looking forward to this, huh…_

"…I think so. Well, anyway, my name is Nekomura Iroha! Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Miku. This is Kaito."

"Okay, then~ shall we start?"

.

"Isn't this… I don't know, a little childish?" Awkwardly, Kaito shifted on the white horse he was riding. The saddle was just a little too small, and his legs hung down, almost touching the ground. One hand lightly gripped the pole that held up the horse as his gaze flitted back and forth between the smiling Iroha and the excited Miku.

"Be quiet, you." Miku's steed was a brown horse. She sat on it like some sort of princess—her legs dangling from one side of the horse as she sat sideways, her arm looped around the pole. "You haven't even ridden a merry-go-round before! So don't complain."

_The first time I've ever ridden on a merry-go-round is when I'm sixteen_, Kaito mentally grumbled, shamefully. He didn't dare voice it aloud, knowing that the girl accompanying him would just make some kind of ridiculous comment.

When the merry-go-round stopped, Kaito was more than glad to have dismounted the ride. Miku was a different story though.

"Can we do that again?"

"No." Came his quick reply. "Let's do something else." _Before I die of embarrassment of having to sit on a toy horse for another ride_.

.

Iroha led them to the haunted house next, which was not very creatively named 'Haunted Mansion'. Miku crossed her arms and scoffed at the name. "That sounds ridiculous. Can't you have picked a better name?"

But their guide's smile never faltered. Kaito wondered if she had trained not to lash out at customers or if she really wasn't offended. "Never judge a book by its cover. Just like that, don't judge our haunted house by its name alone." She walked forward and opened the door. "Please come in. I'll be waiting for you at the exit."

Miku wasn't convinced that the haunted house could actually be scary, while Kaito already had second thoughts. It was dark out, and dark inside, and…

"Kaito, you're not scared, are you?" Came the mocking voice of his neighbor, teal eyes flashing, her head raised haughtily and hands on her hips. She really did look like a bratty princess then, he irately thought, more bratty than usual.

"Of course I'm not scared." Kaito puffed out his chest in what he deemed a manly manner, but it didn't affect Miku at all. She only grabbed his scarf (again) and pulled it and he almost choked. Again.

Just as he took a step into the lightless building, the door closed shut. For a moment neither of the two made a noise. Then Kaito felt something touching his hand and he slapped it away, only to feel suffocated.

"It's just me!" The annoyed huff was more than comforting. He'd almost thought it was a ghost.

"Sorry." But he really didn't feel sorry. "Go on, Miku. Walk."

"Well." Was that a tremble in her voice? "I can't just leave you here to rot, can I? So you have to walk along with me." He was pretty sure it meant she was too scared to walk alone, but he didn't voice it aloud for fear of her abuse.

"I'll take the lead, then." For once, Miku didn't complain. He felt a light tug on his scarf, not to hurt him but just to make sure he was there. Then fingers wrapped around his index finger, and Kaito almost laughed. Was Miku so afraid that she had to hold on to not only his scarf, but his hand as well?

"Don't you dare say anything." She threatened, almost stuttering and her voice a little squeakier, as if she can hear his thoughts. It would've been cute if it weren't for her nails digging into his finger.

"Ow! I didn't say anything."

He heard a huff and "just walk already", so he did.

To be honest, the deeper they went in, the less scared he became. It was dark, sure, and there were ghosts, but at a closer inspection most ghosts were masks or mannequins or rag dolls, dim lighting positioned so that their terrifying features were highlighted. Fake blood dripped, and occasionally cold wind blew, and they did send shivers down his spine, but other than that, Kaito was completely calm.

Miku, on the other hand, was a completely different story. She often gave little squeaks or asked if he was still with her. It was adorable, in a way. Miku was finally acting like a normal girl scared of ghosts instead of her usual queenly and commanding attitude.

As the thoughts of an adorably afraid Miku filled his mind, something crept up his legs.

"Miku, don't touch my legs," he said, at the same time Miku whimpered, "Kaito, your scarf's tickling my leg." Never mind that she was tightly clutching the ends of his poor, poor scarf.

They went silent. The sound of shuffling filled the air. Miku shrieked and kicked around once her mind registered the fact that it wasn't Kaito's scarf that brushed against her legs. "Kaito—!" She screamed.

He was about to calm her down, but then something pale with long, messy hair appeared and went too close to his face for comfort. Panicked, Kaito made a run for it, closely followed by Miku. Kaito recalled lots of screaming, but he couldn't really tell who was screaming—Miku, him, or the both of them (probably the latter, though).

Somehow, they found the exit through the dark labyrinth, and were met with a grinning Iroha. "How was it?"

Kaito was unable to answer, too busy catching his breath. He turned to look at Miku. Red faced and slumped on the ground, looking like she was about to cry. Her lips trembled and her eyes were glassy. Shaky hands clutched his scarf and finger like a lifeline.

"Well… it was an adrenaline rush." He finally said. The pink-haired girl's smile only widened as she spoke.

"That's why we give out haunted house such a lame name." Her words earned surprised looks. "Because we wanted to fool out customers into thinking it was lame."

"…I'm tired." Miku sighed suddenly. "That was… ugh. I'll never enter a haunted house ever again."

"But it's only about half past three now. Do you really want to take the last ride now?" Iroha seemed disappointed, and her cat ears magically drooped as well. "You two are the first customers we have for a while now…"

"Well, Miku's tired." And when Miku was tired, she became grumpy and pushy and violent. He didn't want to be at the receiving end of her tantrums.

"Then I'll show you the final ride."

.

The final ride consisted of a wide, long canal and a boat. Kaito stepped into the boat first, wobbling a little at its gentle rocking. Then Miku extended her hand, her face turned, but he could see the light blush dusting her cheeks in the dim light. Instantly he knew what she wanted. Taking her hand, he helped her steady her sleepy self on the boat. When they sat, she immediately leaned against him, her head comfortably resting on his shoulder.

"I hope you'll enjoy this!" Iroha waved to them. Suddenly the boat's machine stirred and it smoothly glided on the water.

It was dark for a while. All Kaito felt was Miku's weight and her warm breath tickling his neck. It gave him shivers—he has never had a girl this close to him.

"Kaito…" he heard her slur, sleepily. Miku was fighting to keep her eyes open, but she was losing. "Mm… thanks for… accompanying me. It was fun." Her lips curved into a goofy smile that she'd certainly deny later.

"No problem, Miku."

Just as Miku's eyelids finally closed, the canal was suddenly lit with golden and pale yellow, just like the beginning of their night. Tiny boats sailed all around them, each of the boats holding different colored lights. They glowed in the dark and dyed the water an array of colors—a beautiful sight. Along the canal, a parade just for the two of them began.

Kaito saw Iroha wave to them from one of the rides—a big white _maneki neko_ who was moving its arm, its body decorated with glitter and lights. Following her was a big white flower blooming—a lily. Atop one of the petals sat a girl with long blonde hair. One man with ponytailed purple hair was doing tricks with his _katana_, balancing precariously on one foot on the steep roof of a traditional Japanese building.

"Beautiful, right?" Miku's murmur startled him a little. About to agree, Kaito turned to face her, but found that she wasn't looking at the parade. The tealette was gazing right into his eyes.

Suddenly he found himself unable to say anything. Time could have stopped, and he wouldn't even notice.

When his mind was finally able to form a few coherent words, Miku had already averted her teal irises to the parade.

"If this was a dream, then…" Her words were cut off by a yawn. "I… don't want to wake yet. I don't want it to dawn just yet…" Burying her head into the crook of his neck, once again her breath stiffened him.

With the girl by his side asleep, he was left to watch the parade by himself. But he couldn't focus—not with Miku breathing down his neck (literally). Kaito worried that even a tiny shift would wake her. So he sat up still, his face getting warmer with every second, Miku's presence more than noticeable in his eyes.

.

They caught the first bus at nearly five in the morning. Kaito had to nudge his sleeping neighbor awake, and fortunately she obeyed easily, walking like a zombie into the bus and resumed her sleep right after she sat.

"Get the money from my bag." She commanded, slurry but still intelligible. The blue-haired boy paid and sat down next to her, and all of the night's events suddenly weighed on him. The drowsiness returned, and he immediately succumbed to sleep once it came to claim him. The last thing he felt was Miku's head on his shoulder again, but he was too tired to care. His own head rested on top of hers, lightly, and he breathed in the scent of her hair. Vanilla and something else.

It was morning, but he dreamed of Miku's smile and her sparkling eyes, and wondered if they could, maybe, visit Afternight Wonderland again.

.

.

.

_A/N: Um, so, pairings that I'm sure will be included are: Kaito x Miku, Piko x Miki, VY1 x VY2 (Mizki x Yuma), Kiyoteru x Meiko, Mikuo x Neru. Those that I want to write about but I'm still not sure about: Gakupo x Luka, Rin x Len, Kiyoteru x Gumi, Kaito x Lily. Maybe some more. _

_Well, anyway, thank you to anyone who read this (maybe crappy) piece, and if you like it, then I'd be even happier!_


	2. 2: HeatHaze Days, Part 1

A/N: Finally, an update! This is part 1 of 2, by the way.  
>Thanks to my reviewers: <em><strong>Makuhita<strong>_, _**Koe Ishida**_, _**NinjaTroll25**_ and _**LaziiSmorez**_! It's always wonderful to know that people are still reading my fics and enjoying them, even though I think that I'm a pretty fail author sometimes (especially in terms of updates orz) (^_^;)

Anyway, this one-shot is very, _very_ loosely based off Kagerou Days. I want to loop that song forever. Especially Soraru's version.

The idea that Lily is Piko's mischievous, bossy but doting elder sister has already implemented itself in my head. Thus, in this fic, Lily and Piko are siblings. Here, Piko and Miki are fifteen, Lily and Mizki are seventeen and Yuma looks seventeen.

.

.

.

_**S**_crapboo_**K**_  
>2: Heat-Haze Days<br>Pairing: Piko x Miki  
><em>In which Miki is hit by a truck, sent into a coma and Piko has to help her return to her body.<br>Add his sister, an occult-maniac with the ability to see anything supernatural and a grim reaper into the mix. _

.

.

.

"But, you know, I kinda hate summer."

He really wasn't eavesdropping. Furukawa Miki's seat was right next to his, and on her other side was her cousin, Nekomura Iroha. They had been speaking when he heard her say that, and his inner self immediately screamed, _What! How can you hate summer! It's a whole freaking month without school and you HATE it! What's wrong with you!_ even though on the outside he was grinning in anticipation. It was the last day of school and class was about to be dismissed, and just like any other normal fifteen-year-old teenager, Utatane Piko couldn't wait for the bell to ring. The bell of sweet, sweet freedom.

He'd already formed a plan in his head about what to do in the scorching season—sleep until noon, lounge around the house while hoping that his elder sister Lily wouldn't bug him as much, maybe go out, and procrastinate on his homework until the last day. Yeah, life was good.

The bell rang not soon after Piko let a contented sigh escape his lips, thoughts of a lazy summer swimming in his head. In a flash, he was just a part of the throng of students scrambling to exit the classroom, the thin lock of white hair sticking out of his head being the only sign of his presence. Chatters and squeals surrounded him as he squirmed, mumbling halfhearted "excuse me"s occasionally as he pushed through.

Soon the dazzling sunlight hit his whole body, and his mismatched eyes squinted as he looked up to the sky, an expanse of blue without a single white speck of cloud in sight. Summer was finally here, and he was more than ready to embrace it with his heart and soul, as weird as it sounded. He just had to cross the road right in front of his school, turn left, pass through the city park (that was more of a dating spot than anything else a park was supposed to be) and soon he'd see the tall building of his apartment. Then he'd be in paradise, finally.

Except—

"No, hey, come back here!"

"I'll get it for you, Iroha."

—a stupid cat just had to ruin his peaceful paradise for him.

Piko watched as Iroha's cat leapt out of her arms and bounded onto the middle of the road, and Miki, who offered Iroha to chase after it. Then at the truck passing by, and the streetlight, the green light flashing and disappearing, replaced by red light, signaling for vehicles to make their way through the road.

Time could've stopped.

The truck skidded to a halt, but it was too late—Miki was pushed to the ground after the impact, the cat protectively cradled in her arms, drenched in red but still alive. The girl who risked her life for it, though, was a different story. Crimson stained the road, and the driver of the truck got out to see the damage he'd done, and Miki's body was lying on the road, motionless.

People's voice went past his ears. Piko thought someone screamed to call for an ambulance, but he really didn't know. He felt sick to the stomach. Handling blood was never his forte—even the sight of a pricked finger would cause him to pale. Now, facing the pool of blood dyeing the gray concrete road, along with his classmate's almost lifeless body… it was too much to bear.

He turned and fled.

.

Piko slowed to a walk once he was sure he couldn't hear the siren of the ambulance anymore. Who could've guessed that something like that would happen? He thought of Miki's family, their sure sorrow, and Iroha, who would feel extremely guilty. It was her cat that ran off, after all.

A meow startled him.

Speak of the devil.

Scowling, he turned to glare at the black cat staring up at him with large eyes, meowing relentlessly. Most of its fur was red, and whenever it took a step it would leave red marks on the ground. Piko felt sick again. Stupid cat, he mentally scolded it, this is all your fault. But the cat just sat down, primly circling its paw with its tail as it looked up to him. It wasn't like Piko hated cats or anything, it was just that… this particular cat unnerved him, somehow. Maybe it was the blood.

"Don't run away!" He suddenly heard the voice he'd last expect to call out. Long vermillion hair swaying, stopping in front of him and the cat, trying to catch her breath… was Miki.

Hmm. Maybe he was hallucinating. Yeah. It must be the summer heat.

Piko turned away, pretending not to see the (possible) ghost of his classmate and the bloodstained cat. But Miki stopped him—or tried to, at least—and all she managed to do was pass through him, causing an otherworldly chill to pass through his body. A shiver went up his spine but he didn't let it show. Instead, he mustered an exasperated look.

"What is it, Miki?"

"You can see me?" She sounded too gleeful to his liking.

"Obviously."

"No one else can, though. I was busy circling the people back at the road and not one of them acknowledged me. Not even Iroha." Miki pouted, and now she looked a bit more normal, disregarding her translucent body and the fact that she was floating idly, slowly gaining altitude… his eyes followed her as she hovered close to a tree that was at least twice his height.

"Oh. Sorry. I was spacing out." Noticing his gaze, the redhead descended back until her feet seemed to touch the ground. "Hey, does this mean I'm dead?"

"Who knows?" He shrugged. Trying to put up an act of aloofness was harder than he thought. There was nothing that he wanted to do other than go home, sleep and wake up with the thought of _ah, it must be a dream_. Seeing that much blood sickened him, and now the ghost of his classmate was speaking to him as if everything was normal. And nothing was normal. Noticing Miki's downcast expression, he continued. "Probably not. I mean… your ghost is here, so… there should be a way to let you return to your body…"

"You'd help me?" She brightened up in an instant, and he inwardly grimaced. _Of course she'd ask the only person around who can see her!_

He contemplated refusing her, for a moment. But it might be the heat of summer getting to him or some kind of powerful force out there that forced him to advance the plot of his (twisted and odd) life, he said, "I'll help."

She leaned down, ecstatic, and enveloped him in a 'hug' with her ghostly arms, repeating countless "thank you"s. It did nothing but cause shivers to erupt, the sensation of a ghost's cold touch engraved into his body.

_Ah, fainting sounds really good right now._

.

In the end, he didn't actually faint.

When he walked, Piko realized that many people were eyeing him weirdly and muttering amongst themselves. At first he assumed that it was because of his white hair, but many people had funky hair color in the city (take his senior, Kamui Gakupo, with his shiny ponytailed purple—but the senior insisted it was violet—hair, or little Ryuuto's green hair, for instance) so it shouldn't be a weird thing anymore. Then he recalled talking to Miki, the ghost invisible to everyone but him (now, how unfair is _that_?) and embarrassment coursed through him. Now everyone would spread rumors, _oh, that white-haired boy talks to his imaginary friend in public_ and he could just wave good-bye to his peaceful life. Not that it was peaceful anymore, since the accident.

_You're overreacting_, his mind chastised. _People will soon forget_.

Yeah, he must be overreacting. No wonder his dear sis Lily accused him of being a 'Drama Queen' every so often… that was how he tried to console himself. The doubt that he might be labeled 'the freaky white-haired kid' didn't leave.

He completely ignored Miki on the way back to his home. She was following, though, he was sure of it. There was no one else available to help her, and even if there was, she was a ghost. People would sooner freak out and run away when they spotted her, not… staying behind and chatting with said ghost. Now that he thought about it, why didn't he run away?

"Is this where you live, Piko?" Miki's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. It echoed a little and was a little static-y, but after being hugged, hearing her speak didn't seem as creepy. The sight of the tall, beige building was normal to him. It was his apartment, twenty floors high with a garden on the roof. He'd lived there for as long as he could remember, since his parents didn't think that buying a house was convenient. It was too big, they reasoned, and they worked overseas often, so why live in a large place when usually only two people will occupy the house? And so, he and Lily had to split house chores, along with taking care of the bills for everything.

"Hm. Yeah." He entered, the automatic glass double doors sliding open. The receptionist greeted him with a smile before returning to her phone conversation, and Piko went straight to the elevator, pressing the button labeled 8. There, he sighed and turned to Miki. "So how are we going to figure this out?"

"We have the summer holiday, don't we?" She floated close to the plush navy carpeting under their feet, her eyes meeting his as she smiled. She didn't seem to be in any rush to return to her body. How strange. "Why don't we start tomorrow? Besides… I want to see what your family is like!"

"Don't expect a lot." He replied flatly, knowing full well that only his sis would be around. After rummaging for his card key, Piko inserted it into the gap and pulled it out after a few moments. A small _click_ resounded and a green light flashed. The memory of the truck and Miki's accident went through his mind—green light fading, red light replacing it.

Piko twisted the doorknob, calling out, "I'm home."

"Oh. You're back!" He heard Lily's voice, as familiar as the back of his hand. His gaze moved from the sight of his sister to the girl sitting across her, but he paid her almost no heed. What—or who—caught his eyes was the cloaked figure standing behind the girl. He had pink hair mostly covered by a white beanie and pale, piercing eyes. "Mizki, this is my little brother, Piko. Piko, say hello."

"Hi." Thoroughly exasperated and worn out, he curtly replied while having a staring contest with the figure cloaked in black.

"A ghost!" Mizki suddenly squealed, Piko almost jumped in fright and Miki floated closer to him, as shocked as he was. Lily did nothing and only stared, as if everything was completely normal to her.

"Where is it?" His sister even sounded interested. What. He never knew Lily hung out with a girl whose weirdness was _off the charts_!

"Here. Right next to your brother."

"You're not making it up to get close to him, right?" Lily made it sound like a joke, but Piko sensed an underlying dread in her words. Though mischievous and bossy, she was extremely protective of him. Having parents working overseas for months on end had that effect on her. He was the only family member close to her, someone who was almost always there. He figured that losing him to some girl would cause his sister to break down. _It's only because I'll lose my shota slave_, she reasoned, but her eyes were glassy and she turned away when she said it.

"No, of course not." Mizki even looked appalled. What, was he that ugly? "There really is a ghost."

"You can see me?" Timidly, Miki spoke up and drew closer to the dark-haired girl. Mizki beamed and nodded.

"Man, this is cool. Yuma, a ghost!"

Piko figured that this 'Yuma' was the black-clad figure. True enough, the pink-haired boy moved closer, white-gloved hand carrying a small black notebook. His cloak swished when he walked, and Piko noted with relief that he wore black-and-pink shoes that properly touched the floor—not another ghost.

"I can see that pretty clearly, Mizki." He continued flipping through the black book. "Hmm… Furukawa Miki. It's not your time yet, fortunately."

"Not my time?"

"Your time to die, obviously." Yuma rolled his eyes, lips in a thin line. "This is just an accident… a very strange one, but just an accident. You can return to your body."

"How?" Miki eagerly asked, hands clasped, at the same time Piko demanded, "Then do it now!"

"I can't do it. I'm a grim reaper. I just collect souls of dead people, not return souls to their body!"

Piko's hope deflated in a moment. He stared at Yuma and uttered desperately, "Tell me it's a dream."

How the grim reaper could be both sneering and sympathetic at the same time was a mystery. "Nope. Sorry, kid. This isn't a dream."

.

.

.

A/N: Part 2 will be coming soon… hopefully. After that it'll be a GrimReaper!Yuma x OccultManiac!Mizki one-shot set in this universe but before _Heat-Haze Days_ happened. I really hope you'll stay with me until then. If there's any typo or error of if some parts seem wrong, please tell. Every author wants to improve their stories, naturally!


End file.
